Thursday, January 28, 2016


Yesterday morning was Gareth's appointment with the tic specialist at Children's. I got his lunch made the night before (he was supposed to do it, but we forgot and then I just wanted him in bed since we had to be up early the next morning) and got up early and everything was going smoothly. We were set to leave the house by 7:15 so we'd have plenty of time to get to the appointment.

And then we got in the car and I realized I'd forgot to ask Ryan about the gas status and of course we needed gas. So now we were running late and I was stressed that traffic would be bad and we'd end up with our appointment cancelled. And of course the gas station was crowded and then the pump I ended up at I had to go swipe my card inside because it didn't work outside. So I was pretty grumpy by the time we were actually on our way.

But the traffic getting there wasn't too horrible, and we managed to get there just five minutes past our check-in time. You can enter pretty much anywhere and they have a desk where they'll take your license and use it to create a badge for you that gives you permission to be in the hospital. Then they tell you which elevator to take to get to where you're going, where you find another desk and your kid gets a wrist id thing and you fill out some paperwork. Mal really liked all the ocean decor - fish and whales.

The specialist was nice. I wonder how often she gets interesting cases, or if it's mostly people like us. Anyway, she chatted with us about what we've observed. Then she chatted with Gareth a bit. Then she did a neurological exam, mostly having him point back and forth at things and walking, but also using a tool to check for pressure on his eyes. All that was normal, so we got exactly what we were expecting - mild Tourette's. Which is what we were hoping to get from the appointment - rule out any serious things we hadn't considered and start a conversation in case the tics ever get really disruptive of his life. 80% of kids will outgrow their tics, and since there isn't a big family history of them chances are good that Gareth will be in that 80%. No medication or other treatment necessary at the moment. But if we're ever worried about something we can video it and email it to them, which is pretty cool.


Myrna said...

Glad it turned out well after a stressful start to the day!

Momof8 said...

You take such good care of Gareth. I'm amazed that you were only five minutes late with all the delays. It's a good thing you started out plenty early.

Have you shared this information with Gareth's teachers? It usually helps them be more patient and understanding with a child when they know what their challenges are. The more I know about students, the more patient I am with them.